• Carbon fibers improve blast, impact resistance of conventional reinforced concrete

    Researchers find that adding longer carbon fibers to conventional reinforced concrete significantly improves a structure’s ability to withstand blasts, hurricanes, and other natural disasters

  • VA hospital builds $750,000 anti-terrorism fence

    Officials at Charles George Veterans Affairs Hospital say that terrorists will not go after military targets, which are hard to hit, but will instead aim for places such as hospitals with the goal of disrupting and disheartening the public

  • Tornado threat increases as Gulf hurricanes get larger

    New study predicted exactly the number of hurricanes seen for Hurricane Ike: 33; tornadoes that occur from hurricanes moving inland from the Gulf Coast are increasing in frequency

  • Massive earthquakes shake scientific thought

    Experts who dismissed notions that far-away quakes could be linked are beginning to think again after huge tremors rocked Samoa and Indonesia on the same day, followed by another major convulsion in Vanuatu

  • China ponders: Are a few big hydropower projects better than many small ones?

    China is moving aggressively to build dams along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, in part to protect the Three Gorges Dam, but can such hydropower development be done better? “It’s not just dams versus no dams,” one expert says; “It’s about elegant dams”

  • NRC investigates crack at Crystal River nuclear plant

    The Crystal River containment structure is about 42 inches thick, contains steel support tendons, and is lined with steel plates; workers found a crack in the concrete about nine inches from the outer surface

  • New Bay Bridge span designed to endure major quake

    Twenty years ago a 250-ton section of the Bay Bridge fell into the water as a result of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake; the new bridge design will be able to withstand the largest plausible earthquake to occur within a 1,500-year period

  • Asteroid collision: How to defend Earth, II

    Asteroid impacts are much rarer than hurricanes and earthquakes, but they have the potential to do much greater damage; moreover, what if an asteroid hits Earth in the Middle East or the Asian subcontinent? Such an event could be misinterpreted as a nuclear attack — both produce a bright flash, a blast wave, and raging winds; the result may be a nuclear war

  • Radioactive rabbit poo found at plutonium production site

    A clean-up survey at the Hanford site in Washington State, where military-grade plutonium was produced during the early years of the cold war, discovered radioactive jackrabbit droppings around the site; the rabbits burrowed in the area and discovered the tanks in which nuclear waste is stored; they liked the salty taste of the radioactive cesium and strontium salts, so they began drinking and licking them routinely

  • Asteroid collision: How to defend Earth, I

    There are thousands of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) orbiting Earth; some of them are of a civilization-ending size, others are smaller — they will take out “only” a country or a city were they to collide with Earth; scientists say we should focus our minds on this danger

  • UN: Next world war may be in cyberspace

    Countries have become critically dependent on technology for commerce, finance, health care, emergency services, and food distribution; “Loss of vital networks would quickly cripple any nation, and none is immune to cyberattack,” expert says

  • Large new dam construction moving ahead in California

    Environmental studies are due out today on a $409 million project to replace Calaveras Dam, a 210-foot-high structure east of Milpitas in the remote, oak-studded hills along the border between Santa Clara and Alameda counties

  • Negligence a factor in hydropower plant disaster that killed 75

    The massive 17 August accident in Russia’s biggest hydroelectric power plant was the result of negligence by officials; these officials may now face charges over the disaster

  • Indonesian experts: Dense soil, light materials vital for sturdier buildings

    In the wake of last Wednesday’s devastating earthquake in Indonesia, experts call for more care in choosing sites for new buildings and communities; key factor: the stability of the soil; “If you build the foundation 20 to 30 meters deep, then you need very dense soil,” an expert said

  • Is California's Big One coming?

    In 1992 and in 2004, remote earthquakes caused changes to the San Andreas fault; in both cases, there were distinct changes in the movement of fluids and an increase in the frequency of micro-earthquakes deep within the fault below Parkfield; what will be the effect on the fault of the recent Sumatra earthquake?